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By Mark D, April 7, 2011 3:30 am

So it’s now 2012-2013, have I finally turned the page for the Islanders?

Yep, 19 games into the season and JT is done for about the year. So It’s another wonderful season of trying to turn things around for the Islanders.

We’re at game 42 now and they have actually turned it around a bit. Blake Comeau has just set a career high (21) in assists about a week ago, while Josh Bailey has set a career high in goals (17) just last game. The lineup at the start of the season was:

Moulson – Tavares – Okposo
Comeau – Bailey – Nino
Schremp – Nielsen – Figren
Martin – Konopka – Joensuu

Wisniewski – Streit (Oh and they hate each other, I get constant news of Streit talking to Wisniewski after the game)
McBain – DeHaan
Hillen – Katic

Mikko and DP rotate starts.

After JT’s injury here’s the new lines

Comeau – Bailey – Okposo
Moulson – Nielsen – Nino
Schremp – Kennedy – Figren

Unfortunately while the first line is working out great (Comeau, Bailey and Okposo have some of the best +/- on the team) the Moulson/Nielsen/Nino line is pretty dead in the water. All 3 of them are -9 or worse, and only Moulson has more then 20 points. Nielsen has 16 and Nino 12. The third line is even worse, but at least they are better defensively. Tim Kennedy has 5 points in 23 games and a -5, Schremp has 7 points in 42 games and is a -7 and Figren has 14 points in 42 games and a -10 but he’s the only one of the three on the PP so he has 4 PP points.

The game gives players 1-10 ratings after every game, and compiles them for an average on the stats scene. It probably isn’t surprising to find out that Schremp, Kennedy and Figren (who last year was a candidate for the Calder) are the worst three forwards on the team. The next forward after them is Frans at 6.05 rating, while Schremp has a 5.83, Kennedy has a 5.65 and Figren has a 5.55. At this point I might be better off bringing up someone from Bridgeport.

Here’s the current BP lineup.

Ryan Reeves – Tomas Marcinko – Rhett Rakhshani
Jason Gregoire – Corey Trivino – Reilly Smith
Tomas Vincour – Justin DiBendetto – David Ullstrom
Brad Snetsinger – Brian Day – Brett Leffler

Hamonic – Blake Kessel
MacDonald – DeHart
Klementyev – Nemeth

Poulin – Rosen rotate starts

BP is insanely good at defense, they are second in the league in giving up goals at 59 in 42 games. Of course with only 79 goals they are one of the worst teams in the league offensively. I’m thinking of calling up Marcinko (74 Defense rating) Reaves (67 Defense rating) and Leffler (63 Defense rating) and either bouncing up the 4th line to the 3rd line or replacing the whole 3rd line. I’m leaning towards the first option, as the 4th line has some of the best +/- of the whole team and has created nearly as much offense as the 3rd line anyway.

So here’s a bit of a surprise after all that, The Islanders are actually doing alright. They are 18-21-0-3 which is good for 39 points and 8th in the Eastern Conference by 3 points. The problem as always seems to be their inability to win away from home, as they are 12-8-0-1 at home. They are getting decent goaltending from Mikko and DP.

Speaking of DP, these are some of the transactions I made in the offseason.

Listed DP and Robbie Schremp as Trade Bait to see if I could get anything for them.
Drafted Aatu Pekkala an offensive defenseman from Finland first overall. I know, I have a ton of offensive defenseman. But he was the highest rated defenseman without reaching as the next dman wasn’t taken until 13th overall.
Drafted Herbert Gefrich in the 2nd round, a defensive defenseman from Slovakia.
Drafted Leopold Elias a goaltender from the Czech Republic in the 3rd round
Drafted Arsi Sari an offensive Defenseman from Finland who has horrible offensive skills, in the 4th round
Drafted Paulo Schimpf a physical defenseman from Switzerland in the 5th round
I picked up Jamie McBain in the waiver draft, unprotected Trent Hunter who was claimed by Columbus.
Also playing for BP right now is Shane Sims and Matt Donovan who I signed to two way deals.
Also made Andrew MacDonald the captain at Bridgeport.

And that’s this season halfway mark as my Simulated Islanders turn. Any Advice/thoughts from the peanut gallery would be appreciated!

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By Mark D, February 7, 2010 4:51 pm

I’m going to make this somewhat short and sweet. The Islanders success last month is now a double edged sword. People were/are unwilling to admit that this was an over achieving team. Short memory also means that most people forget how bad this season started off in September/October. I’m not worried, if the team is going to get cold then its better to get cold in February then in April. Just ask last year’s Penguins how that works.

But people seem to be really down on Scott Gordon. I just wanted to say at the very least he deserves one more year if not two. First off, you can throw last year’s team away. Not only was it his first season, but everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I still wonder why on earth Dubie wasn’t brought back as a backup. This season the Islanders have been impressive for large periods of time, especially for a team that was considered by many to be the worst in the league. The other bright spot for the Islanders this year? The continued development of prized prospects Bailey, Okposo, Tavares along with the breaking out of Schremp and Moulson. Also factor in two players were considered marginal NHL replacements, MacDonald and Kohn, have played well enough to displace Witt. You memory doesn’t have to be that good to remember 10-15 years ago and all our prospects who did horrible on the Island and great elsewhere.

Another reason to keep Gordon is stability. I say the same thing about the Jets, during the time I’ve been a Jets fan it seems like every 3-4 years we get a new coach. Meanwhile the Giants have been to two Super Bowls and a contender while only hiring 3 coaches during the same period. There’s something to be said of having a coach for more then just two seasons. I think recent Islander history shows so much.

From 1972 to 1994 (22 years) the Islanders won 4 Stanley Cups, made it to Five Finals and over 200 Playoff Games (128 Playoff Wins) with 5 Coaches including Al Arbour Twice.

From 1994 to 2010 (16 years) the Islanders have made the playoffs 4 Times, played a total of 22 Playoff games and 6 Playoff wins. They also have not made it out of the first round.  During this time they have had 12 coaching changes (not including Arbour’s special game) with Lorne Henning and Mike Milbury each having two separate stints.

Gordon was the coach picked by Snow. So far they seem to be working well together.  Snows free agent signings seem to be players who will work the best in Gordon’s system. If you get rid of Gordon now your upsetting the chemistry, possibly upsetting the youth, and worst of all you might be starting from scratch. If you bring in someone and they want players A,B and C, suddenly its a whole new game plan. Quite truthfully as long as the young players continue showing improvement this is going to be a good team and Gordon is a success.

So give Gordon one more year. Let’s see if the youth keeps developing. Let’s see if DiPietro  can return to old form. Let’s see if Snow can get another Moulson/Streit/Schremp level pickup in the offseason. When Milbury was in charge during his first few years there was always signs of insanity lurking in the background. I have faith in Snow which I didn’t before this season. I think Gordon’s the right guy for what Snow is planing, and stability when it comes to coaching is a good thing.